IEP meeting tomorrow...any advice appreciated.

Tomorrow we have a meeting with people from the school to re-evaluation the IEP. I feel as if I am stiull in the dark as what to ask for. My son is 6.5, is in first grade and has a diagnosis of ODD. He is out-of-control at home and his behavior is getting much worse at school- running away from teachers, refusing to follow instructions, aggression towards other kids, etc. I have heard of a behavioral assessment-can someone give me advice as waht to ask for? Thanks so much.

I am understanding your post to say this is the first IEP for your child? What research have you done for going from emotions to advocacy?

My son was first diagnosed with ADHD which cause some ODD in the same age range of your difficult child. I was in the dark and seemed overwhelmed with all the letters and attitudes of the administrators and professionals. This was in the early 90's when there wasn't much on the internet.

Have you heard of Wrightslaw? http://www.wrightslaw.com/
Has been a wealth of information for me. You might google for IEP for ODD and see what you get?

I know you will be fine and a great advocate for your child because YOU ARE the EXPERT when it comes to your difficult child!!!!

i was in your boat this time last yr. yes you can ask(in writing) for a behavior assesment and a behavior plan. that should be part of the iep and make sure it is in there before you sign the iep. do not sign that iep until you take it home and read it over no matter what they say to you!

as for what to ask for the school psychiatric and social worker know exactly what to do you just need to keep on top of the Special Education dept to follow thru.

my son's bips(behavior plans) were on going changing documents trying to find strategies that worked. we met 1/mth to evaluate how things were going(not well and nothing they tried worked that is why my difficult child is in an emotionally impaired program and thriving).

do you have outside therapy for difficult child right now? you can make them a partner with-the behavior plan team and they can give you insight sometimes as to what might work best for your difficult child.

Been in your boat before!! Be sure to push for real experts in "behavior" to do the Functional Behavior Assessment and not just the school social worker. difficult child's p-doctor should be able to recommend people that you can then suggest to the school. Be sure the BIP mentions his disability is causing the behavior as often as you can get them to put it in there - it can come in handy if you pass that golden 10 day suspension limit and have to have a Manifestation Determination meeting. THEN after the Behavior Intervention Plan is developed, be absolutely vigilant in monitoring that the school personal is actually following the plan and ANY time difficult child gets in big time trouble, make sure you ask for a review of the BIP. Start talking to the p-doctor now about the need or recommendation for a 1:1 aid so if and when it's needed, it's well documented and there are no surprises.
I know you aren't feeling lucky in the least right now but be glad you are learning all of this now and not later. You have time to get it right!
Good luck!
Michelle

To be honest with you, I have not done all that I should have for several reasons: I have been in school online-withdrew from it this morning- and I suffer from depression which makes me want to hide from all of this. I realize now, though, that I need to be well-informed. Right now, things are so out-of-control at both home and school. Thank you for the web sites.

been there done that. You need that behavioral assesment. Then you can get a BIP that makes sense.

Things I have tried with mine that may help are:

1. Have a "safe place" at the school that difficult child can go to in times of emotional overload.(I found that emotional overload is usually the root cause of ODD behavior in my difficult child.) Have it written that either the child or teacher can initiate going to the safe place.

2. Make sure that the teachers know to NEVER touch difficult child when in aggitated state.(It makes them worse. And yes, my difficult child had teachers try to pull her from under desks, etc.)

3. Make sure that the teachers always use a calm voice with difficult child. Elevated tones of voice evoke emotional response which makes things worse.

My last suggestion is that ODD is rarely a diagnosis by itself. Have you had a complete, multidisciplinary evaluation done on difficult child? If not I would suggest it. My difficult child's diagnosis has changed several times, and now the ODD is off, replaced by Aspergers.

I could pm or email you a BIP we used for my difficult child if you like, so you have a sample. Just remember that it would be a sample, and would just give you some ideas.